TV Legend Stephen J. Cannell Passes Away at Age 69
According to IMDB.com, Stephen J. Cannell has passed away at the age of 69, due to complications from melanoma. Even if you don’t recognize his name, you will recognize his work: The A-Team, Riptide, Hunter, Hardcastle and McCormick, 21 Jump Street, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, The Rockford Files, The Commish, Baretta, Black Sheep Squadron, and – my favorite television show title of all time – Silk Stalkings – all shows he created or helped shape. He helped launch the careers of current stars like Johnny Depp and Michael Chiklis and many of these shows can still be found in syndication and still have loyal followings.
Many of these shows are artifacts of a simpler time in television, when it was easy to know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys. He gave us larger than life heroes – guys like Jim Rockford and Hannibal Smith - witty, charming rogues who color outside the lines but whose moral compass always points due north. He also developed a simple but effective “buddy formula,” creating Odd Couple-like crime fighting duos, like Ben Vereen’s slick con man and Jeff Goldblum’s straight-laced accountant (Tenspeed and Brown Shoe) or Brian Keith’s no-nonsense judge and Daniel Kelly’s brash reformed thief (Hardcastle and McCormick).
This is also where we see some of Cannell’s legacy. Many of today’s more popular shows are following his formulae. Castle, which Cannell occasionally guest-starred in as a poker buddy of Richard Castle, pairs a snarky writer and a no-nonsense detective. The show has heart, humor and clear moral lines: Beckett and Castle wear the white hats – no questions asked. USA’s Psych, which features a fraudulent “psychic detective” and his more straight-laced pharma rep partner, perhaps owes some its existence to the short-lived Tenspeed and Brown Shoe. Another USA show, White Collar, uses the Hardcastle and McCormick formula of a hard-nosed yet soft hearted lawman and his reform-challenged criminal protege.
There are, of course, more direct examples. Just this past summer, one of Cannell’s biggest hits – The A-Team – was given the big screen treatment. The Rockford Files is set to return to television, perhaps sometime this season. There’s even word of a 21 Jump Street reboot. It’s only a matter of time before talk of that Silk Stalkings remake starts to emerge…
Cannell’s shows may not have been known for their complex narratives or morally challenging characters, but he did know how to create great entertainment, a skill that is perhaps lost on many of today’s producers and writers. He gave us simple worlds, where the line between right and wrong was clear and distinct. Thankfully, some of that legacy has been passed on. It’s good that television has given us darker and more challenging material in the past few years – shows like Lost and Dexter – but I hope there will always be a place for the world of Stephen J. Cannell on television – a place where the good guys wear white, where justice is always served, where two people with nothing in common can become friends. Thanks for the memories, Stephen J. Cannell – you will be missed.
Discuss: What were your favorite Cannell shows growing up? Are there any you would like to see re-made, or should we leave his shows in the past now that he’s no longer with us?
Tags: "Stephen J. Cannell", FEATURED, Television
